Railway Accident: At Quintinshill, near Gretna Green, on the Scottish-English border, a railway crash involving five trains turns to an inferno when the gas lamps in one of the trains, carrying troops bound for Gallipoli, ignite. With the destruction of the Regimental records the exact number of deaths is never fixed with certainty, but certainly exceeds two hundred. [Wikipedia].

War!

World affairs: In London, Italian diplomats agree to declare war on Germany and her allies within one month, in exchange for territory in the South Tyrol, and in the Adriatic, including Gorizia, Istria and most of Dalmatia – the homes of 230,000 German speaking Austrians and around 750,000 Slovenes and Croats, far outnumbering the 650,000 Italians also residing there. [The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919].

Dardanelles: British submarine E-14 successfully passes through the Dardanelles, reaching the sea of Marmara and sinking a Turkish gunboat. [Burg & Purcell].

The perils of modern transport: In Exeter, in England’s west country, the Western Times reports the sad death yesterday of Mr George Creedy, retired policeman, aged 82. Earlier in the month Mr Creedy, who was deaf, had stepped into the path of an oncoming tram in Exeter’s main street.

Colonial tensions: British instructions for the “colonial contingents” (including Australians and New Zealanders) in Egypt include stern advice on dealing with “natives”

“The ill-treatment of natives is a very serious offence, and all cases are to be fully investigated and reported to Divisional Headquarters before disposal….

“Men should be warned against striking natives, altercations with them should be carefully avoided. They should be particularly warned against donkey boys and dragomen [ie guides and interpreters] as most of these know the english language and are apt to become familiar… They should have as little dealings with natives as possible, whose one idea is to make money out of them.”

War!

Middle East: The British Viceroy of India, Charles Hardinge, Lord Penshurst (who is responsible for overseeing British policy and interests in the Middle East) arrives in Basra for a tour of inspection of the British and (mainly) Anglo-Indian troops there [Roger Ford: “Eden to Armageddon: World War 1 in the Middle East”].

War at Sea: Germany publicly declares a war zone encircling the British Isles in which all merchant ships, regardless of their origin or purpose, may be sunk by submarines without warning. [Burg & Purcell].

Peace:

Accident at the quayside: At dock in Great Yarmouth, on England’s east coast, E-class submariner and Petty Officer First Class, Albert George Hodder, is returning from a shopping trip into the town when he slips from a gangplank into a strong cold current and is drowned.

War!

War from the air: After dark, two German zeppelins successfully bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn on England’s east coast, returning undamaged to their base near Hamburg [Burg & Purcell].

War at Sea: His (British) Majesty’s submarine E10 sinks in the North Sea.

Asia-Pacific: In what “westerners” call “the Far East”, the Japanese government issues its “twenty-one demands” to the Republican government of China in an attempt to build on its gains in Manchuria and Northern China during the first sino-Japanese war (1894-95) and the Russo-Japanese war (1904-05).